Early this month at UFC 217, T.J. Dillshaw was able to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title by knocking out former teammate Cody Garbrandt in the second round. Right after the fight, he once again broached the idea of coming down in weight to take on flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

UFC president Dana White says the would-be super fight would be the ultimate “money fight” that Johnson has been asking for. But even so, Dillashaw is not keeping his hopes up.

“He was scared the first time, so I’d imagine he’s still scared now too,” Dillashaw said on a recent MMA Hour appearance (via MMA Fighting). “I respect Demetrious Johnson. I respect him as a human being. He always acts like a professional, he’s a nice guy, but that still doesn’t mean that I can’t say that he’s scared to fight me.”

“I do respect him, I respect his choices and he’s got an awesome little family and stuff, but it’s time to man up. This isn’t about liking or disliking me. This is about the fight that needs to happen.”

As for being the 135-pound champion, Dillashaw is looking to take advantage of the control that he holds. For one thing, he is not willing to give Dominick Cruz a title shot any time soon.

“Cruz can suck it, man,” Dillashaw said. “He’s the one who made me wait forever. He knew he should’ve given me that rematch. He was scared. He thought he was cherry-picking by picking Cody. He was trying to hold onto that belt, get as much as he could.

“So if it’s up to me, he can wait. He can wait as long as I did. I couldn’t care less. I mean, I do want to beat that guy. I do want to smash because I know that I can, but I don’t care what he says. I’m going for the fight that makes the most sense for me right now, and that’s Demetrious Johnson, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”